Improvement in mowing-machines



Uivrfrnn S'rAfrns Pa'rnn'r @erica WILLIAM HESTON, OF BEDFORD, OHIO.

IMPROVEMENT IN MOWlNG-MACHINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 123,399, dated February 6, 1872.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM HEsroN, of Bedford, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented a new and useful Improvement in h/Iowing-Machines; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the annexed drawings making part of this specification, in which- Figure l is a plan or top view of so much of a mowing-machine as is required to illustrate my invention, showing the frame-work to which the floating finger-bar is to be attached, together with such bar, the pivot upon which it turns, and a lever for controlling the movements thereof. Fig. 2 is a side elevationof the frame-work and thelever which acts upon the finger-bar, together with the support or fulcrum of such lever. Fig. 3 is a front view of the iioatin g finger-bar, the pivot upon which it turns, and of the lever which operates it.

Corresponding letters refer to corresponding parts in the several figures.

And the invention consists in the combination and arrangement of the devices of which the apparatus is composed.

To enable those skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

A A in the drawing represent portions of the frame-work of a machine, which may be of any suitable material and form to receive and support the other parts of such machine, and particularly those parts which are necessaryT in carrying out my invention, but which, as I do not propose to limit my invention to its application to a combination with any particular form of frame or machine, need not be more particularly described here. B represents the oating finger-bar, which may be pivoted to the inner frame of a mowing-machine in such a manner that its inner edge shall be close to the outer edge of such frame, so that as its outer end is raised or lowered above or below a horizontal line its inner end may pass above or below the surface of the frame. O represents a right angled piece of metal, which should have upon its under surface a recess to receive the front end of the bar which constitutes the side of the frame. From that portion of this corner-iron in which the recess above referred to is formed there is an arm eX- tending for any suitable distance, which Vhas upon its edges iianges, which pass down upon the edges of the frame and prevent it from moving in such angled piece, a rivet or bolt passing through its outer and inner ends to aid in preventing such movement. The opposite arm of this corneriron is to be prepared upon its under surface to receive the front portion of the frame, to which it is to be secured. Upon the upper surface of that portion of this corner-iron there is to be a projection sufficiently large to admit of there being a hole bored or otherwise formed therein, through which a pin or shaft is to pass, and in which it is to be secured so as to turn freely therein. C' represents a forked projection, or it may be ears projecting from the corner-iron O, they being at the proper distance apart to receive between them the lever E, which has its fulcrum upon a bolt which passes through such ears or projections. D represents a plate of metal, which is to be firmly attached to the upper surface of the 1ingerbar,'and is to have, firmly secured in a projection raised upon it, a pin or shaft, the outer end of which shall enter and turn in the holes formed in the cor- 11er-iron C, so that the finger-bar may turn upon this pin or shaft, and so that it is suspended from the frame of the machine at that point. E represents a lever which has its fulcrum in the projections upon corner-iron C, as above described. The long arm of this lever projects inwardly or toward the rear of the machine, where its position may be controlled by any suitabledevice erected upon the machine for that purpose 5 or a Weight may be attached to it, which shall counterbalance the outer end of the cutterbar, and thus such bar be kept in its position by changing the position of this arm of the lever, the opposite or short arm of which bears upon the inner end of the cutter-bar, as shown in all of the f1gures.

The operation of this device will be as follows: The parts having been constructed and arranged as shown in Fig. l, the lever E will be operated so as to cause its inner end to assume a higher or lower position with reference to the frame of the machine, which operation v will cause the outer end of the linger-bar to E arranged at a right angle to said nger-bar, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this speoieation in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WM. HESTON.

Witnesses E. D. INGERSOLL, C. F. WHEELOCK. 

